In WordPress-related development news, mock-ups were release Thursday of BuddyPress, which is an impressive theme for WordPress Multi-User (WPMU) installations that adds a social networking layer to the existing functionality. This includes groups, direct messaging, friends, photo albums and of course a blogging component.
As the BuddyPress website explains:

“The idea of BuddyPress is to take a standard vanilla installation of WordPress MU and turn it into something that represents more of a community building tool, or niche social network.“

According to BuddyPress developer, Andy Peatling (“New BuddyPress Theme“):
“The theme has been …

Via TechCrunch (“WordPress: The Social Network“):
“Can WordPress become the basis of a social network? Automattic founder and WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg hinted today on his blog that WordPress might go in a more social direction. He announced a new hire, Andy Peatling, the developer behind BuddyPress, a social network built on top of WordPress. BuddyPress will now become an official WordPress project.”
This is a really interesting concept that I plan on investigating further when time permits. From the sound of things access to BuddyPress has also been temporarily …